Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Requiem
(Messe de requiem en ré mineur, op.48, version de 1893)
Cantique de Jean Racine, op. 11 (1865)
Works by Rossini, Brahms, Schubert, & Rheinberger
(details beneath review)
Jean-Gabriel Saint-Martin (baritone), Isaure Brunner (soprano)
Chœur de l’Opéra Royal
Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal/Victor Jacob
rec. 2024, Chapelle Royale du Château de Versailles, France
Texts in Latin, French & German with English & French translations
Château de Versailles Spectacles CVS156 [78]

I have a problem with engaging with new recordings of this most famous and oft-performed of Fauré’s works, as I am indelibly imprinted with the 1967 recording conducted by Sir David Willcocks with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and the New Philharmonia Orchestra, which I acquired as a teenager shortly after our school choir had ambitiously learned and performed it in Waltham Abbey, near Epping Forest in Essex. We sang the 1900 full orchestral version, which is still by far the most widely performed, as is the EMI recording, which is very English in sound but, unlike some, not too operatic and manages to be both reverential and intimate without being too small-scale. This new recording returns to the intermediate version of the Requiem, the so-called “Revised Chamber Version” which was expanded to seven movements with the addition of the newly-composed Offertoire and the Libera me (which had been composed as a separate entity in 1877), but is still quite restrained and does not lend itself to overt gestures. The disc is generously filled with Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine and “selected works by Brahms, Schubert, Rossini, and Rheinberger [which] bridge the divine and the secular”, and are loosely connected by the theme of death, the soul and the grave.

The recording opens with Rossini’s threnody for Meyerbeer, set to a text by Émile Deschamps (1791–1871), poet, translator, and man of letters and sung a capella except for a muffled snare drum accompaniment; it is melodically a fairly unvaried dirge but still quite arresting. The following arrangement of Schubert’s “Gesang der Geister über den Wassern” – the later version for male chorus and strings, the earlier one being for chorus and piano – does not really bear the marks of originality which distinguish so many of his songs but it is neatly delivered. Brahms’ “Four Songs” gain a special character from the unusual instrumentation of two horns and a harp with women’s chorus. Otherwise, I would again not say that these are among the most strikingly innovative of Brahms’ compositions. The full choir sing Rheinberger’s four-part “Abendlied”, which is conventionally melodic and very “Lutheran German” in character.

The Requiem gains in clarity and immediacy from being performed in the smaller-scale, “church” version and very little of its grandeur is lost thereby; moments such as the “Hosanna in excelsis” concluding the Sanctus with the horns and choir playing and singing forte respectively are suitably bracing. Tempi are quite swift without hurrying the music. The tenors are especially sweet of tone. but if I have a criticism of this choir, it is that the basses could have more rounded resonance and less of a “groaning” tone. Unfortunately, the baritone soloist has weak top notes and a touch of tremolo in his vocal production. I am not expecting to hear another José van Dam here, but John Carol Case for Willcocks showed that a baritone can sing “unoperatically” but still elegantly without vocal weakness. The soprano soloist sings “Pie Jesu” very straight without vibrato, which is fine, but I much prefer a treble here. There are still enjoyable passages; my favourite for its piquant harmonies, especially in the bass line, is the concluding section of the Agnus Dei, which is powerfully sung; likewise, the “Dies Irae” in the Libera me is dramatic, with effective drum rolls.

The text of the Cantique is Racine’s paraphrase of a much older Latin hymn. The quality of Fauré’s music surely makes it a cut above the other choral numbers in quality but the little blips in the organ introduction are off-putting and I prefer it performed on a more imposing scale. For me, it is by far the most enjoyable of the choral numbers here; to be honest, the rest do not much engage me or enhance my enjoyment of the disc as a whole.

The sound is well-balanced with just enough space around the voices but there is a persistent, low, background rustle which is probably the organ wind supply.

The booklet contains full texts and translations, colour photographs and a neat, personal little note from the conductor.  I do think, however, and the authors of the texts should have been credited and provide that information below with dates of composition; Jacob’s note asserts that “Gesang der Geister über den Wassern” was adapted by Goethe from James Macpherson’s poem but other sources suggest that was done by Eduard Brinckmeier.

If my critique here comes across as lukewarm, I can only say that it accurately reflects my response to this rather underwhelming recording. I am unlikely to want to revisit it.

[Note: the English translation of the blurb on the reverse of the disc provides some scope for the intervention of the mixed metaphor police by informing us that, “the work unfolds with a spiritual fervour bathed in a halo of crystalline beauty, carried by a fluid choral writing.” I appreciate that the original French is itself more than a little pretentious but would submit that either a better translating job could have been done or the original text should have been subjected a rigorous red pencilling; being fervently unfolded, bathed in a crystal halo then carried in fluid writing sounds distinctly unfeasible, not to mention uncomfortable.]

Ralph Moore

Buying this recording via the link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free

Details of contents additional to the Requiem & Cantique:
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
Péchés de vieillesse, Album III “Morceaux réservés” (1864):
No. 1, Quelques mesures de chant funèbre à mon pauvre ami Meyerbeer
Text by Émile Deschamps
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Gesang der Geister über den Wassern, D714 (1821)
Text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Vier Gesänge, Op. 17 (1860):
No. 1, Es tönt ein voller Harfenklang
Text by Friedrich Ruperti
No. 2, Lied von Shakespeare
Text by August Wilhelm Schlegel, after William Shakespeare
No. 3, Der Gärtner
Text by Josef Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff
No. 4, Gesang aus Fingal
Text by Eduard Brinckmeier, after James Macpherson (“Ossian”)
Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901)
Drei Geistliche Gesänge, Op. 69 (1855): No. 3, Abendlied
Text from the Gospel of St Luke